A forum devoted to current political, economic trends, and news of the Maghreb region.

Monday, July 6, 2015

Tunisia's "Will of Life"

** This is my latest piece for the Huffington Post's World Post.Since the publication of the article, Tunisia's President Beji Caid Essebsi declared a state of emergency in the country for 30 days. In a televised speech Essebsi cited reasons of national security and stated his concern that the government "would collapse" if there is another terrorist attack. Tunisia is a nascent democratic experiment, and such premature state of exception and the vast autocratic measures contained in the emergency powers could be detrimental to greater institutional development, individual freedom, and press liberty.

Article in the Huffington Post

Early twentieth century Tunisian poet Abu
al-Qasem al-Shabbi’s magnum opus poem “the Will of Life” is a passionate call
to his countrymen to embrace life in their fight against French colonialism and
oppression. Parts of al-Shabbi’s poem are also found in the Tunisian national
anthem, and the first stanza reads as follows:

“If, one day, a
people desires to live, then fate will answer their call

And their night
will then begin to fade, and their chains break and fail

For he who is
not embraced by a passion for life will dissipate into thin air

At least that is
what all creation has told me, and what its hidden spirits declare..”

A
century after al-Shabbi’s poem, a minority of radical Tunisians have instead
embraced death and have sought devastation in their quest to establish a murderous
fictitious Islamic state. The whole world seems to be firmly in the crosshairs
of radical Islamists inspired by the extremist ideology of the Islamic State.
The attacks on a beach resort in Sousse that killed 38 people were part of
three terrorist attacks in three continents. The first was a suicide bombing inside
a Shi’a mosque in Kuwait as worshippers were gathering for the Jumu’a prayer,
killing 27 people, while the other attack took place at a gas company in France
where a seemingly disgruntled employee decapitated his employer, and injured two
others. These acts are not the work of lone wolves, or isolated acts of
madness. The radicalism of the ISIS’ death cult has been the unifying ideology
in all three acts. Despite the air strikes and active fighting in Iraq and
Syria, ISIS murderous strategy to wreak “havoc” in the region through preaching
and inspiration constitute a real threat for much of the MENA, and the Mediterranean
region.

Tunisia could have tightened security
measures after the March 18 attacks on the Bardo museum that killed 21 people, but
it is difficult to prevent such attacks on soft targets. The government has
reportedly beefed up security protocols around hotels and tourist complexes,
and some tourists have even complained of heavy security presence around the
same resort that witnessed the attacks. However, recent reports also raise serious questions about
Tunisian security readiness and response. Tunisian government and security
forces have been criticized increasingly for their failure to adopt
a comprehensive security strategy.

A comprehensive counter-terrorism
strategy would have to start at the borders with Libya. The neighboring Maghreb
state has for the last year descended in utter chaos with more than a thousand
active armed militias are fighting in an endless war of attrition. Libya has
also been a major hub for terrorist training. The Bardo museum gunmen received training in Libya, and early reports suggest that the
Sousse terrorist may have traveled illegally to Libya where he trained on the
use of assault rifles.

More importantly, there is a malaise
inside the Tunisian society, a nascent democratic state, with deep societal
cleavages and an identity battle between secular and religious trends within
the country. Tunisia is at once a ray of hope in the menu of Arab uprisings
failures, but a society that has contributed more than 3000 foreign fighters to
the Islamic State. The legacy of secular policies, the repression of the religious
impulse in the country in post-independence Tunisia, and the fragile security
situation in the post-Arab spring have produced deep struggles
between forces of secularism, religion, and radicalism. The electoral
victory of secular Nida’ Tounes in October 2014 may have also served to
radicalize more young Tunisian inspired by takfirist
ideologies of the IS and al-Qaeda.These struggles
are apparent in the complex identity profile of an increasingly violent
minority of radical Tunisian youth. Seif-Eddine Rezgui, the gunman responsible
for the Sousse attacks, is a case in point. The 24-year old electrical
engineering graduate student, was an avid break-dancer, a member of a breakdancing club, and
was arrested once for consuming hashish. However, reports also sketch another side of the gunman, who frequented
radical mosques in Qairouan, made a number of public statements of commitment
to Jihad, support for the Islamic State, and his favorite soccer team Real
Madrid on his Facebook page.

The complex profiles of these young
terrorists further complicate the task of security forces to combat these types
of attacks. The profile of the gunmen also reflects the underlying
socio-economic factors for radicalism among the youth. Unemployment and bleak
economic prospects are key causes for joining the call of violent extremism as
one alternative to clandestine migration to Europe. Alienation, and
hopelessness of the youth explain the large number of North African fighters in
Syria and Iraq. A “noble” cause in the extremist minds of these “soldiers of
despair” is worth dying for, when there is nothing else to live for. The threat of radical Islamism is a scourge
amongst all Muslim majority, and increasingly minority, societies. The rather successful
nefarious use of social media by ISIS and extremist Islamists makes is
difficult to prevent such attacks on soft targets. While these are the acts of
isolated individuals, the fact that they are inspired by an ideology and a mode
of violent thinking do not make them lone wolves as some argued. This radical
ideology is in fact a cancer that has been metastasizing far too long, and is
arguably the greatest and most pernicious threat facing the religion and people
in the Muslim world. An effective strategy against radicalism in the Arab and
Muslim world would be to confront head on these ideologies not only in terms of
security protocols, and economic reforms, but also discursively. A discursive
strategy that embraces peace, not war and devastation, and seeks life, not
death, as al-Shabbi rhymed a century ago in Tunisia.